The order was criticized by forest rights activists, forest dwellers and above all by the UN Special Rapporteurs for Human Rights. The Centre finally admitted before the Supreme Court that rejection of claims by state governments were illegal and requested the court to stay its eviction order. On 1st March 2019 , the Supreme Court stayed its own order to evict forest dwellers.Non-BJP states better perfor-mers: As per data provided in Parliament, non-BJP ruled states had performed better. Chhattisgarh ranked second in FRA implementation after BJD-ruled Odisha. The Bhupesh Bhagel led Congress Govt had issued 4.23 lakh IFR and 21,967 CFR claims till August 31, 2021.Maharashtra had settled 1.72 lakh IFR and 7,084 CFR claims. Madhya Pradesh issued the highest number of 27,976 CFR till August 2021. However, all the 27,976 community claims were settled by the previous Government headed by Kamal Nath that lasted for 15 months. Since then, between March 2020 and August 2021, the BJP Government in MP has settled only 7 or 8 CFR claims.BJP ruled Tripura settled 1.27 lakh IFR and 55 CFR claims. West Bengal settled titles of 45,130 individuals and 686 community claims. In PM Modi’s home state Gujarat, only 95,363 individuals were conferred the rights and 3887 CFR claims were settled.The community rights conferred on two dozen non-villages in Nayagrah, Odisha, for the first time includes joint titles to collect and use firewood. The villagers also have the right to collect, process, use and sell minor forest produce such as bamboo, kendu leaves (for making beedi) etc.(Author is an independent writer & researcher based in Srinagar)(This article was first published in National Herald on Sunday)
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